CL22 : Clinical Nursing

Conduct an Internet search for either a Never Event or a core measure, and select one to address in your post.

Respond to the following:

How has the emphasis on quality of care, patient safety, and clinical care outcomes been impacted by specific standards emanating from TJC and/or CMS? Cite your selected core measure or Never Event in your response.

What is the impact of the nurse’s role in clinical outcomes for the organization?

Discuss nurse-specific challenges in influencing change in quality improvement.

How does this influence the ability of the organization to achieve its strategic agenda?

Support your response with references from the professional nursing literature.

Clinical Nursing

Discussion 5

Alternative therapies are imperative in cancer treatment. CAM, contemporary and alternative medicine, is any medical product, practice or system which is not considered to be standard medical care. Standard care is that which is anchored on scientific evidence. For cancer, standard care entails biological therapy, radiation surgery and chemotherapy. Notably, acupuncture is an example of contemporary medicine while utilizing a distinctive diet to mitigate cancer is an example of alternative medicine. Nurses experience several challenges as they provide alternative therapies to cancer patients. Specifically, inadequate specialized training and education for nurses is a major problem. Health professionals particularly those that deal with cancer patients conduct various activities when advancing alternative therapies. The health specialists must focus on supportive care, symptom management, education and patients’ assessment. However, inadequate specialized training and education make it difficult for nurses to perform these activities (Nwozichi, Ojewole and Oluwatosin, 2017). The extent to which the health practitioners accomplish these responsibilities is questionable. Most nurses learn these essential skills on the job through different methods. For instance, through informal conferences, intuition, experience and doctors instructions.

 It is possible for nurses to integrate the use of CAM approaches in cancer treatment. Nurses can do so by adopting leadership roles in research, innovation, education and more so in advocacy. Nurses should advance their skills and experience through further training to be able to utilize complementary and alternative medicine in cancer treatment. Likewise, this will ensure that they focus on patients’ assessment and management. Nurses may face varied ethical issues as they strive to provide alternative therapies to cancer patients. Preventing patient’s injury and suffering, contributing significantly to patients’ improvement, being honest and truthful with patients and stated goals are vital aspects that cause ethical concern (Nwozichi, Ojewole and Oluwatosin, 2017). Challenges encountered by nurses in achieving their goals include inadequate time to perform their duties. Disagreements among nurses, job dissatisfaction, and unresolved conflicts which lead to feelings of powerlessness and frustration are also of ethical concern.

 There are several major elements to incorporate into a nurses’ teaching plan in regards to the use of CAM in cancer treatment. These include the goals and roles of both nurses and patients that will facilitate the provision of better clinical care. Additionally, it is paramount to include patient education concerning self-management and treatment (Nwozichi, Ojewole and Oluwatosin, 2017). The shared role of the patient and nurse in developing care plans is promoting equal decision making. Equal decision making will enhance cooperation and help avoid errors. Incorporating patients in decision making will aid in comprehending their values and preferences. Therefore, this will make sure that a patient receives quality integrated health care.

Week 6

A never event is a serious adverse event or medical error which should never occur to a patient. Negative consequences of never events include both raising medical cost to an institution and patient harm.  The CMS, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, considers never events as severe, avoidable and costly medical mistakes. Professional nurses aid prevent or reduce the occurrence of never events by establishing a culture or routine of safety by adopting excellent nursing practices. Emphasis on clinical care, patient safety and quality of care has been influenced by specific standards. Each nurse is accountable for providing quality care according to CMS standards (Law et al., 2013). Nurses strive to avoid never events. Therefore, they have focused on accelerating the adoption of fundamental clinical guidelines and evidence-based practices to facilitate the improvement of patient outcomes and avoid medical errors.

The influence of nurses’ roles in medical or clinical outcomes is evident and important to health organizations. A better-prepared labor force leads to quality improvement. Nurses’ role in effectively applying evidence to health-care delivery is also vital. Additionally, improved utilization of information technology enhances patient care. Therefore, this makes it possible for nurses and healthcare organizations steer clear of never events like hospital-obtained pressure falls and ulcers (Law et al., 2013). Nurses face various challenges when impacting the transformation in quality improvement. First, they lack appropriate leadership skills to convince others health professionals to observe safety procedures and reduce never events. They also have inadequate resources, for instance, teaching rooms which can be used when conveying essential information on quality improvement. Consequently, failure to keenly supervise nurses as they deliver medical services is another challenge.

 All health organizations must achieve the strategic agenda of providing quality clinical care. Preventing costly never events helps a health organization to progressively save money, therefore, reducing revenue loss. For example, if a patient with a respiratory illness falls on the discharge day, the patient requires 2 extra days for evaluation (Law et al., 2013). The hospital is responsible for all the costs related to the fall. The health organization loses the chance of utilizing the hospital bed to serve another patient. Therefore, this negatively impacts on organizations capability to attain its strategic agenda.

References:

Law, R. L., Pullyblank, A. M., Eveleigh, M., & Slack, N. (2013). Avoiding never events: improving nasogastric intubation practice and standards. Clinical radiology, 68(3), 239-244.

Nwozichi, C. U., Ojewole, F., & Oluwatosin, A. O. (2017). Understanding the challenges of providing holistic oncology nursing care in Nigeria. Asia-Pacific journal of oncology nursing, 4(1), 18.